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KINDEE-GAETEN CULTUEE 



A SUCCINCT EXPOSE OF 



FRIEDRICH FROEBELS EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES 



IN CONNECTION WITH THE KINDER-GARTEN. 



DESCRIBING ALL ITS MEANS OF OCCUPATION IN THEIR LOGICAL CONNECTION WITH ONE 
ANOTHER; SHOWING THEIR USE AND POINTING OUT THE RESULTING DEVELOP- 
MENT WHICH MAY BE EXPECTED IF THEY ARE PROPERLY EMPLOYED. 



/ 

,V, 1 EDWARD ViEB:E], 



AUTHOK OF "PAKADISE OF CHILDHOOD:" A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO KINDER- 
GARTNERS, &c. 



MILTON BRADLEY & COMPANY, 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 



L6II97 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



The following was originally prepared by 
Prof. Wiebe, as a lecture covering the whole 
ground of Kinder-Garten culture, for the pur- 
pose of interesting the educators of this coun- 
try in the subject by presenting it to them in 
a condensed form, and as the Kinder-Garten 
is so little understood in America, it may not 
be inappropriate to preface the essay with the 
opinions of some of our prominent educators, 
in regard to this as well as the Paradise of 
Childhood by the same author. 

Gen. John Eaton, commissioner of educa- 
tion at Washington, in a letter to the author 
referring to this lecture says : " I am satisfied 
that it has real merit and should be given to 
the public, not so much for its adaptation to 
satisfy a popular demand, as to meet the ne- 
cessity for information on this important sub- 
ject among educators." 

Mr. J. W. Dickinson, principal of the State 
Normal School, at Westfield, Mass., says: 
"Froebel's methods of Kinder-Garten instruc- 
tion, are in accordance with the constitution 
of the human mind. If correctly and faith- 
fully applied, these methods must secure a 
natural, yet systematic use of the child's men- 
tal powers in their early activity. I com- 
mend Prof Edward Wiebe's illustrations of 



Froebel's system of primary instruction to 
ever)^ teacher in this country." 

Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody who is earn- 
estly working for the introduction of Froe- 
bel's principles into American schools, and 
who has done more than all others by per- 
sonal effort to bring the subject before Amer- 
ican educators, says in a private letter to the 
author : " I have just read your lecture, which 
is the most complete thing I have ever seen, 
and which I wish could be printed and added 
to your Paradise of Childhood, in which case 
it would make iAai a still more perfect thing. 
The lecture, as delivered would be lost in 
effect, somewhat, by reason of its being so 
loaded with thought, and so concisely ex- 
pressed, that a mere hearer could not grasp 
it. It is material that could be expanded 
into a dozen lectures, to say tlie least." * * * 

" It is the most important document yet 
presented to the American people, and if un- 
derstood will do the most to prevent pseudo 
Kinder-Gartening." 

In a letter to the publishers urging the pub- 
lication of this lecture, as of great value to 
the educational interests of the countr)-. Miss 
Peabody says : " Mr. Wiebe's lecture is more 
of the philosophy of the Froebel metliod than 
I thought could be put on paper." 



Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1871, by Miltom Bradley & Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congren 
at Washington. 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



The fundamental principle of the Kinder-Garten 
system of education, so clearly laid down in his writ- 
ings, and so successfully carried out in practice by 
Friedrich Froebel, is expressed in the axiom, that, be- 
fore ideas can be defined, perceptions must have pre- 
ceded ; objects must have been presented to the sen- 
ses, and by their examination experiences acquired 
of their being, quality and action, of which detinite 
ideas are the logical results, w^ith which they are there- 
fore inseparably connected. It is not claimed that 
this principle originated with the inventor of the Kin- 
der-Garten ; for long before him it was said that : 
" Nihil est in intellectu, quod antea non fuerit in sensu," 
but, in the Kinder-Garten system, he has furnished all 
material to begin the education of mankind on this 
logical basis. 

Definite ideas are to originate as abstractions from 
perceptions. (Anschauungen, as the Germans say, 
meaning literally the looking at% or into things. ) If they 
do not originate in such manner they are not the prod- 
uct of one's own mental activity, but simply the consent 
of the understanding to the ideas of others. By far 
the greatest part of all acquired knowledge with the 
mass of the people, is of this kind. Every one, how- 
ever, even the least gifted, may acquire a stock of 
fundamental perceptions, which shall serve as points 
of relation in the process of thinking. Indefinite or 
confused fundamental or elementary perceptions pre- 
vent understanding words with precision, which is nec- 
essary to reflecting on the ideas and thoughts of others 
with clearness, and appropriating them to one's self. 
In the fact that a large majority of persons are lacking 
in clear and distinct fundamental perceptions, we find 
cause for the existence of so many confused heads, 
full of the most absurd notions. The period of life 
in which the first fundamental perceptions are formed 
must necessarily be our earliest childhood. They can 
form only during this state of. as it were, mental un- 
consciousness, because the impressions on the senses 
can best be fixed lastingly upon the soul, when this 
process is least disturbed by reflection ; and impres- 
sions of objects of the world without upon our senses, 
are made more or less clearly and distinctly, accord- 
ing to the nature of these objects themselves. A mere 
acquisition of perceptions, however, is not sufficient. 



As in the development of all organism in nature, a 
certain, peculiar series of events takes place, which 
always must be the same, or at least take place in ac- 
cordance with the same law, to reach the same aim, 
or produce the same form ; so, also, in mental devel- 
opment, a peculiar process, a natural series of events 
must take place without disturbing occurrences, to 
successfully reach the corresponding idea in the mind. 
This series of events in the mind and heart, connected 
with the process of thinking, is in philosophy ex- 
plained to consist of: ist. A general or total impres- 
sion. 2d. A perception or looking on a single thing. 
3d. Observation of qualities and relations. 4th. Com- 
parison. 5th. Judging. 6th. Conclusion. Although 
a right selection of objects, and their proper succes- 
sion, are of the first importance, adherence to these 
two conditions is not yet sufficient to prepare and ac- 
custom the mind to logical thinking ; these means 
should be applied or presented in a systematic, me- 
thodical way, also. A system of education in perfect 
accordance with the laws of nature is only possible, 
therefore, when the modus operandi of the natural 
functions of the soul, during their development, is fully 
understood, and the exact means are discovered to 
assist these functions in a corresponding manner from 
without. As long as this is not done, the education 
of the human race is left to be the result of chance, 
and at the mercy of mere educational instinct. We 
claim that the significance of Froebel's educational sys- 
tem consists mainly in a perfect understanding of the 
natural process of mental development. This under- 
standing guided him in preparing certain means of 
education, or play, all following the same course as 
the mental development which they are intended to 
promote. No man has ever looked so deeply as 
Friedrich Froebel into the secret workshop of a child's 
soul, and so successfully discovered the means and 
their methodical application for a development of the 
young mind in accordance with nature's own laws. 
To be certain that the natural course of development 
be not interrupted but logically assisted, the child's 
instinct should have free choice within appointed 
limits, and still be obliged to receive the objects as 
they are presented to it for the first perceptions. The 
means to obtain this, Froebel has found in allowing 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



the child to manipulate the things destined for the 
production of changes according to his own choice. 
Thereby the child will be led to devote attention to 
the objects formed, because he looks upon them as his 
own work, and rejoices in what he is able to do. That 
free unrestricted activity of the child, which we call 
play, alone can comply with these conditions ; any 
thing eXsc/orciJ upon the child, can never be success- 
fully employed for this purpose. A desire of acquir- 
ing knowledge of things, is an innate faculty of the 
soul, hence there is no need of forcing the child into 
making acquaintance with the things given him to 
play with. We have only to select for his playthings 
the fundamental forms, which, like the typical forma- 
tions in nature, offer, as it were, a fundamental scheme 
for an acquaintance with the large multitude of things 
Knowledge of things can be acquired only by acqui- 
sition of a knowledge of their qualities. We then 
have to provide ojects in which the general qualities 
of things are shown in perfect distinctness, in order 
to produce thereby clear and lasting perceptions in 
the mind of the child. These objects should be such 
that they may be easily manipulated by the limited 
strength of the child, that he may become acquainted 
with them by their use, and become enabled thereby 
to gather experiences in regard to events and facts in 
the physical world, and may, so to say, serve him for 
the first physical experiments. Examining the list of 
Froebel's Kinder-Garten occupation material, we find 
it to consist of the following : 

1. Six soft balls of various colors. 

2. Sphere, cube, and cylinder, made of wood. 

3. Large cube, divided into eight sm.ill cubes. 

4. Large cube, divided into eight oblong blocks. 

5. Large cube, consisting of 21 whole, 6 half and 
12 quarter cubes. 

6. Large cube, consisting of 18 whole oblongs 
with 3 divided lengthwise and 6 divided breadthwise. 

7. Quadrangular, and various triangular tablets 
for laying figures. 

8. Staffs or wands for laying figures. 

9. Whole and half wire rings for laying figures. 

10. Material for drawing. 

11. Material for perforating. 

12. Material for embroidering. 

13. Material for paper cutting and combining the 
parts into symmetrical figures. 

14. Material for weaving or braiding. 

15. Slats for interlacmg. 



16. 



19. 



Slats with 4, 6, 8, and 16 links. 

Paper strips for lacing. 

Material for paper folding. 

Material for peas work. 
20. Material for modeling.* 

The list begins with the ball, an object, comprising 
in itself, in the simplest manner, the general qualities 
of all things. As the starting point of form — the 
spherical — it gives the first impression of form, and 
being the most easily moved of all forms, is symboli- 
cal of life. It becomes the first known object, with 
which all other objects for the child's ^lay are brought 
into relation. Beside teaching form, the balls are 
also intended to teach color, hence their number of 
six, representing three primary and three secondary 
colors. The principle of combining, uniting, or bring- 
ing into relation of opfosiles, which is a governing law 
throughout all occupations in the Kinder-Garten, is 
applied here to discriminating primary and secondary 
colors, the latter being produced by a combination of 
two of the former.t 

For the purpose of acquiring clear and distinct, 
correct ideas of things around us, it is indispensably 
necessary to become acquainted with them in all res- 
pects and relations. The balls are made the object 
of a great variety of plays or occupations, to make 
the child become well acquainted with its uses, and 
to enable him to handle it gracefully. Then, for the 
purpose of comparison, the second Gift is introduced, 
consisting of sphere, cube, and cylinder. We can here, 
certainly not yet speak of a rational comparison on 
the part of the young child, but simply of an imme- 
diate, sensual perception or observation of the simi- 
larities and differences existing in the things pre- 
sented. The child will find by looking at the three 
new objects exhibited to him that the sphere is just 
like the ball, except in its material. The first impres- 
sion, that of roundness, made upon the child by the 
many colored, soft balls, finds here its further devel- 
opment by the fact that this quality is found in this 
wooden ball, or the sphere, as he may be led to name 
it, learning a new word. To facilitate the process of 
comparison, the objects to be compared should first 
be as different as possible, opposites in a certain sense. 
The opposition between sphere and cube relates to 
their form. Together with the oppositional, or dif- 
ference in objects, their similarity should in the mean- 
time be made prominent, for comparison demands to 
detect equality and similarity of things as well as their 



• The above aixangcment and numbering of the Gifts, adopted by writers on the Kinder Garten, and manufacturers of its occupation 
material, has been retained here, as a change could not well be made without producing much confusion. The logical connection of the 
Gifts, as described in this paper, can not be affected in the least by the numbers attached to them for the purpose of designating them as 
articles of manufacture. 

t When the secondary colors are presented, it would be well to have three pieces of glass of the three primary colors, and let the chil- 
dren take two and look through them toward the light, which would teach them sensuously the combinations. 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



distinction by inequality and dissimilarity. The cyl- 
inder introduced as the mediatory between the oppo- 
sites in form, given here, is the simplest and imme- 
diately suggested mediative form, because it com- 
bines the qualities of both cube and sphere in itself. 

These three whole bodies, introduced as fundamen- 
tal or normal forms or shapes, in which all quali- 
ties of whole bodies in general are demonstrated, and 
which serve to convey the idea of an impression of 
the whole, are followed by the introduction of variously 
divided solid bodies. Without a division of the whole, 
observation and recognition, /. e., knowledge of it, is 
next to impossible. The rational investigation, the 
dissecting and dividing by the mind, in short, the 
analysis should be preceded by a like process in real 
objects, if the mind is calculated to reflect upon 
nature. Division performed at random, however, can 
never give clear ideas of the whole or its parts, but a 
regular division, in accordance with certain laws, is 
always needed. Nature gives us also here the best 
instruction. She performs all her divisions according 
to mathematical laws. 

The orders in the vegetable kingdom are distin- 
guished according to form and number of parts. 
Froebel here, also, borrowed from nature a guide 
which led him in systematizing the means of devel- 
opment of the young mind in the Kinder-Garten. 

As the first divided body, a large cube is intro- 
duced, consisting of eight small cubes of the same 
size each, as its parts. The large cube is divided 
once in each direction of space, lengthwise, breadth- 
wise and hightwise. The form of the parts is here 
like the form of the whole, and only their relation as 
to volume is different. In shape, alike, they differ in 
size, which fact becomes more apparent by a variety 
of combinations of a different number of the parts. 
Thus the relation of number is here introduced to 
the observation of the child, together with that of 
form and magnitude. A clear and distinct idea of 
these relations could hardly be attained unless pre- 
sented in this manner. In the following Gift, diver- 
sity of form in the whole and its parts, is made ap- 
parent, preceding the introduction of the relations of 
the plane. The logical connection with the preced- 
ing Gifts consists in the same form of the whole, the 
cube, and the same manner of division ; the 5th and 
6th being divided twice, whereas the 3d and 4th were 
divided only once in all directions of space. The 
variety of forms gained, by this division of the cube, 
give the widest scope to the invention and production 
of combined forms, without ever leading to an indefi- 
nite, unlimited, unrestrained activity. The logical 
combination of parts to a whole, which is required in 
using these blocks, renders it a preparatory occupation 
for succeeding combinations of thought, for, also the 



1 of parts into a whole follows certain laws, 
thereby forming a serial connection, which, in nature, 
is represented by the membering or linking of all or- 
ganisms. As nature, in the organic world, begins to 
form by agglomeration, so the child in its first occu- 
pations commences with mere accumulation of parts. 
Order, however, is requisite to lead to the beautiful 
in the visible world, as logic is indispensable in the 
world of thought for the formation of clear ideas ; 
and Froebel's law to link opposites, affords the simplest 
and most reliable guide to this end. 

In the building occupation this law, f. i., is applied 
in relation to the joining of blocks according to their 
form, or the different position of the parts in relation 
to a common center. If I join sides and sides, or 
edges and edges of the blocks, I have formed oppo- 
sites ; side and edge or edge and side joined, are con- 
sidered as links or mediation. Thus below and above 
are opposites in relation to which the right and left side 
of form or figure built, serve as mediative parts. Car- 
rying out this principle, we have established a most 
admirable order, by which even the youngest pupil, 
frequently unknowingly, produces the most charming 
regular forms and figures. This regular and serial 
constructing of the parts to a whole, according to a 
determinate law, is followed by connecting various 
wholes with one another, to produce orders and series 
as we find them in all the natural kingdoms, just as we 
are in need of categories in the process of thinking. 
Therefore we produce in the Kinder-Garten, by means 
of our occupation material, different series of forms 
and figures from common elementary forms, which we 
call either forms of life, forms of kno'.vledge, or forms 
of beauty. The fijst arc representations of objects act- 
ually existing and coming under our common obser- 
vation, as the works of human skill and art. 

The second are such as afford instruction relative to 
number, order, proportion, etc. The third are figures 
representing only ideal forms, yet so regularly con- 
structed as to present perfect models of symmetry 
and order in arrangement of parts. By occupation 
with these differently, yet always regularly constructed 
bodies, the child will make observations of the great- 
est variety, which, by immediate use of the objects 
by manipulation and experiment, make a real expe- 
rience. The observations f. i. of the vertical and hor- 
izontal, of the right angled, of the directions of up and 
downward, of under, above and next one another ; of 
regularity, of equipoise, the relation of circumference 
and center, of multiplication and division, of all that 
produces harmony in construction, etc., impress them- 
selves, as it were, indelibly upon the child's mind almost 
at every step. The first knowledge, or rather idea of 
the qualities of matter, and the first experiences of its 
use, are obtained thus in the simplest manner and de- 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



lightfully. Thus the lawful shaping, logical develop- 
ment and methodical application of the material, is, 
as it were, the logic of nature imitated, whose repre- 
sentation is found in the forms of crystallization. It is 
natural that the works of God should reflect the logic 
of the great Creator's mind, and thereby be made the 
teachers of mankind. What can man do better in 
educating the human mind, than imitate these means, 
for the purpose of unfolding and strengthening the 
germ of logic, implanted in the mind of every human 
being, created in the image of his God. 

A condition of indisputable importance for the ac- 
quisition of knowledge of things, is the knowledge of 
the material of which they consist, and their qualities, 
and this should be introduced in right succession. 
From the 2d to the 6th Gifts, the objects consist of 
■wmxi, and they are in the meantime solid bodies. 

The next step in the use of matter as the represen- 
tation of mind, is the transition to the plane, Froebel's 
Tablets for laying figures. In them, the simple mathe- 
matic fundamental forms are given as embodied planes, 
beginning with the square, which is followed succes- 
sively by the right-angled triangle with two equal 
sides, (l-2 square;) the right-angled triangle with 
unequal sides, the obtuse-angled triangle, and the 
equilateral triangle. 

The slats given for the play of interlacing form the 
transition from the plant to the !ine, resembling the 
latter, although owing to their width, still occupying 
space as a plane. They represent in one respect a 
progress beyond the staffs, because they may be joined 
for the purpose of representing lasting forms. 

The staffs, representing the embodied line, facili- 
tate the elements of drawing, serving as movable out- 
lines of planes. They are to be looked upon as the 
divided plane in order to adhere to their connections 
and relation with the form from which we started. By 
means of the staffs, numerical relation first is made 
more prominent and evident by the introduction of 
figures. The application of the law of opposites re- 
lates in all previous occupations to ihc/orm and di- 
riction of parts. 

In the so-called ptas-work the staffs (eventually wire) 
are united hy points, represented by peas, demonstrat- 
ing that it is union which produces lasting formation 
of matter. 

Here closes the first section of Froebel's embodied 
alphabet, intended to give the elemental images for 
the succeeding recognition of complex form, magni- 
tude and numerical relations. Thus the child has 
been guided in a logical manner from the solid body 
through its divisions and through the embodied plane, 
line and point, in matter and by matter, to the bor- 
ders of the abstract, without going over into abstrac- 
tion, which is a later process, to be postponed to the 



school that succeeds to the Kinder-Garten. To re- 
duce or "lead tack" mathematical perception, (ab- 
stract thinking) to appearances in the material world, 
no more appropriate means and method could have 
been devised. All abstractions are drawn, — abstracted 
according to the original meaning of the word — from 
manifestations of the visible world. Although further 
final conclusions (which may be continued ad infini- 
tum) shall remove them from their origin, elevate 
them to the loftiest bights of thought, their roots are 
ever to be looked for in the material world. The 
assertion that ideas are founded and defined by per- 
ceptions only, is either entirely erroneous and not to 
be proved, or there must exist such a connection, such 
an analogy, between the things of the material world 
and the objects of thought, as has been indicated here. 
And if it can be proved that such a course of develop- 
ment of the human mind necessarily takes place in 
some degree without our assistance, as a natural pro- 
cess, then education should not dare to prescribe any 
other one ; then this is the only true method of de- 
veloping the mind, because it operates with nature's 
laws, although it does not exclude all assistance on 
our part, but invokes it. We have often opportunity 
to notice how easily the mind, without human assist- 
ance, grows in wrong directions, like the young tree 
that never felt the effect of the pruning-knife. 

In the following occupations of the Kinder-Garten, 
we shall notice the progress from the solid body or ot>Ject 
itself to the representation of its image by drawing. 
Planes and lines, the various forms of the triangle and 
other geometric figures occur also here, but they are 
produced by different material. The touching pt 
handling of the solid body, the most important means 
of acquiring knowledge during the first years of a 
child's life, during the state of its rational uncon- 
sciousness, is now entirely changed to a looking at 
objects, presented to its observation ; and the image 
of the body, so to say, takes the place of the body it- 
self. Drawing with pencil is of such paramount im- 
portance because the child is enabled by it to repro- 
duce quickly and easily the images imparted to its 
mind by their own visible representation, whereby 
they become truly objective and are only then fully 
understood. Instruction in writing should never pie- 
cede instruction in drawing. 

In the development of the human race, the body 
unmistakably precedes its image or representation, as 
the drawn image preceded the written sign or letter. 
In the incipient st.iges of civilization, these signs for 
things were images, as we see in all hieroglyphic in- 
scriptions. Our modern letters occupy the highest 
step in the scale of the language of signs, (which we 
should not forget.) 

Froebel's method of instruction in drawing is as 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



ingenious as it is simple. The same course as pur- . 
sued in the study of things, according to their form, 
size and number, and mathematical proportions is 
also here adhered to. The various forms which have 
previously occupied the child in their existence as 
bodies, appear here in drawn pictures, and are multi- 
plied ad infinitum. The progression from the sim- 
plest rudiment to the more complicated, the great 
multiplicity of series, determined by the various direc- 
tions of the lines and the geometric fundamental forms 
the logical progression from the straight to the curved 
lines, render drawing — not considering here its im- 
mediate artistic significance — one of the most ef- 
ficient means for disciplining the mind of the young 
pupil. It is the first step for the child to a future 
careful observation of the general connection of things 
from the smallest to the largest, as parts as well as 
wholes. 

In the following occupations, the material of which 
is a more refined one, color is introduced in connec- 
tion with multiplication of form, and the products of 
the children's work are constantly approaching real 
artistic creations. In the braiding or weaving the 
thought of number is predominating because the op- 
posites of odd and even are combined by alternately 
employing both. In the paper-folding, opposites are 
formed by the oppositional directions of the lines, 
(horizontal or perpendicular) originating in the folding 
of the paper, and these opposites are connected by 
the mediative oblique line. In like manner this law 
is applied to angles, acute and obtuse as opposites, 
the right angle serving as a mediatory. This is re- 
peated in the occupation ol perforating an^ embroider- 
ing. The cutting of paper, also, especially affords a 
perfect view of all the mathematical elements for the 
purpose of plastic representation. 

Thus we find everywhere the same logical chain of 
perception, and subsequent representation and exper- 
imental knowledge resulting from both, and thus all 
parts and sections of this system of occupation are 
logically united with one another, serving the child's 
mind as a faithful reflector of its own internal devel- 
opment at each and every step. And well may the 
matured mind, developed according to these princi- 
ples, in future days retrace with facility its conceiving 
and thinking to the clear and sharply defined, as it 
were, typical images of this reflector, as their very 
origin, for such experiences surely can never be ef- 
faced. 

It has been charged by those who have only a su- 
perficial knowledge of Froebel's educational system, 
that by it the facilities of the young mind are too 
soon awakened, which should not be taxed at so 
early an age. To this accusation we invite the most 
careful investigation, the result of which, we doubt 



not, will be a conviction that just the opposite is the 
case. 

Manual occupation, performed in connection with 
all means of occupation in the Kinder-Garten, con- 
tinual representation of objects, plastic formation and 
production, are all attractive to the nature of the child 
and touch the springs of spontaneity in its very core. 
All observations which appeal to the understanding 
and prepare mathematical conceptions occur, as it 
were, as accessories only, and to such an extent as the 
child's desire calls for them. Nothing is ever forced 
upon the pupil's mind. It can not even be said that 
teaching is prominent, but rather practical occupation, 
individually-intended production, on the part of the 
children ; which give rise to most of the remarks re- 
quired to be made on the part of the Kinder-Gartner. 
The element of working, which every child's nature 
craves, is predominating. Activity of the hand is the 
fundamental condition of all development in the child, 
as it is also the fundamental condition for the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge, and the subjection of matter. Me- 
chanical ability, technical dexterity, education of all 
human senses require under all circumstances manual 
occupation. However, if this side of Froebel's edu- 
cational system is mentioned, another class of op- 
ponents is ready to object, that the child should not 
begin with work, but that first its mind should be de- 
veloped. We understand these various objections to 
mean that the child's powers should not be employed 
in mechanical occupation exclusively, nor be entirely 
deprived of it, but that a harmonious development of 
body and mind should be the task of education. This 
is in perfect accordance with Froebel's principles, 
which, if carried out rightly, will accomplish this in 
the fullest meaning of the word. No occupation in 
the Kinder-Garten is merely mechanical, it is one of 
the most important rules that the mere mechanical, 
as contrary to the child's nature, should studiously be 
avoided. 

Nothing is plainer to the careful observer of the 
child's nature than the desire of the little mind to ob- 
serve and imbibe all its surroundings with all its senses 
simultaneously. It wishes to see, to hear, to feel, all 
beautiful, joyful, and pleasant things, and then strives 
to reproduce them as far as its limited faculties will 
admit. To receive and give back, is life, life in all its 
directions, with all its powers. This is what the child 
desires, what it should be led to accomplish with a 
view to its own development. Eyes and ears seek 
the beautiful, the senses of taste and smell enjoy the 
agreeable, and the impression which this beautiful and 
agreeable make upon the child's mind calls forth in 
the child's innermost soul, the desire, nay, the neces- 
sity of production, representation, or formation. If 
we should neglect providing the means to gratify such 



8 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



desire, a full development of the heart of the individ- 
ual, a higher taste for the ideal in it, never could be 
the result We believe that this desire can not be 
assisted more perfectly and appropriately than by ac- 
complishment \r\ form, color, axiA tone, each express- 
ing and representing in its own manner, the feeling of 
the beautiful and agreeable. The earlier such accom- 
plishment is begun, the more perfectly the heart or 
xsthetic sentiment in man will be developed, the more 
surely a foundation for the moral development of the 
individual be laid Aptness in formation and produc- 
tion conditions development of the hand, simultane- 
ously with the development of the senses. It condi- 
tions, also, knowledge and subjection of matter and 
the proper material for the yet weak and unskilled 
hand of children. Formation itself furthermore con- 
ditions observation of the various relations of form, 
size, and number, as shown in connection with the 
gifts, employed for the preparatory development of 
the perceptive foculties. Mathematical forms and fig- 
ures are, as it were, the skeleton of the beautiful in 
form, which, in its perfection always requires the 
curved line. Images of ancient peoples, as we find 
them f. i. in the Egyptian temples arc straight-lined, 
hence are geometrical figures. The curved line, the 
true line of beauty, we find subsequently, when the 
artistic feeling had become more fully developed. 
The forms of feuw/y alternating in all branches of Kin- 
der-Garten occupation, with those of life and knowl- 
edge, afford the most appropriate means for the de- 
velopment of a sense of art as well as of aptness in 
art, in the meantime preventing a onesided prevalence 
of a mere cold understanding. 

The faculties of the soul are not yet distinctly sep- 
arated in the young child, the understanding, feeling 
and will, act in union with one another and every one 
is developed through and with the others. The com- 
binations of the power of representation in formation 
serve also as the preliminary exercise for that combi- 
nation of thought ; and what the hand produces 
strengthens the will and energy of the young mind in 
the meantime affording gratification to the heart. All 
work of man, be it common manual work, or a work 
of art, or purely mental labor is always the uniting of 
parts to a whole, i. i., organizing in the highest sense 
of the word. The more we are conscious of aim, 
means, manner and method connected with our svork, 
the more the mind is active in it, the higher and no- 
bler the result will be. The lowest step of human 
labor is formed by mechanical imitation, the highest is 
free formation or production, according to one's own 
conception. Between these two points we find the 
whole scale by which the crudest kind of labor mounts 
to a free production in art and science and on which 
invention stands uppermost as the gradual triumphant 



result from simplest imitation. It is this scale en min- 
iature through which the child's mind is conducted by 
means of Froebel's occupation material. From the 
first immediate impression, received from objects and 
forms of the visible world, it rises to art, or creation 
according to own ideas, which is its own production, 
a self-willed formation. For this purpose nature im- 
planted in the human mind a strong desire to produce 
form, which, if correctly guided, becomes the most 
useful faculty of the soul. Simply by this desire of 
formation the images of perception attain the neces- 
sary perfect distinctness and clearness, the power of 
observation, its keenness and experience, its proofs, 
all of which are requisite, to afford to the working of the 
human mind a sure foundation. Free invention, creat- 
ing, is the culminating point of menial independence. 
We lead the child to this eminence by degrees. Some- 
times accident has led to invention and production of 
the new, but Froebel has provided a systematically 
graded method by which infancy may at once start 
upon the road to this eminent aim of inventing. 

If the full consciousness, the clear conception of its 
aim is at first wanting, it is prepared by every step 
onward. The objects presented, and the material em- 
ployed, afford the child, under the guidance of a ma- 
ture mind, the alphabet of art, as well as that of 
knowledge, and it is worth while here to remark that 
history shows art comes before science in all human 
development. 

If we now cast a retrospective glance upon the 
means of occup.ttion in the Kinder-Garten, we find 
that the material progresses from the solid and whole in 
gradual steps to its farts, until it arrives at the image 
upon the flane and its conditions as to liiu and foint 
For the heavy material, fit only to be placed upon the 
table in unchanged form (the building blocks), a more 
flexible one is substituted in the following occupations : 
Wood is replaced by paper. The paper plane of the 
folding occupation, is replaced by the paper strip of 
the weaving occupation, as line. The wooden staff 
or very fine wire is then introduced for the purpose of 
executing permanent figures in connection with peas, 
representing the point. In place of this material the 
drawn line then appears, to which colors are added. 
Perforating and embroidering introduces another ad- 
dition to the material to create the images of fantasy 
which, in the paper-cutting and mounting, again re- 
ceive new elements. The modeling in clay or wax 
affords the immediate plastic artistic occupation, with 
the most pliable material for the hand of the child. 
Song introduces into the realm of sound, when mete- 
ment plays, gymnastics and dancing help to educate the 
body and insure a harmonious development of all its 
parts. In practicing the technical manual perform- 
ances of the mechanic, such as boring, piercing, cut- 



KINDER-GARTEN CULTURE. 



ting, measuring, uniting, forming, drawing, painting, 
and modeling, a foundation of all future occupation of 
artisan and artist — synonymous in classic and mediaeval 
antiquity — is laid. For ornamentation, especially, all 
elements are found in the occupations of the Kin- 
der-Garten. The forms of beauty in the paper-fold- 
ing {. i., serve as series of rosettes and ornaments in 
relief that architecture might employ without change. 
The productions in the braiding department contain 
all conditions of artistic weaving, nor does the cutting 
of figures fail to afford richest material for ornamen- 
tation of various kinds. For every talent in man 
means of development are provided in the Kinder- 
Garten material. Opportunity for practice is constantly 
given, and each direction of the mind finds its starting- 
point in concnti things. No more complete satis- 
faction, therefore, can be given to the claim of rational 
education : " that all ideas should be founded on pre- 
vious perception, derived from real objects," than is 
done in the genuine Kinder-Garten. Whosoever has 
acquired even a superficial idea only of the significance 
of Froebel's means of occupation in the Kinder-Gar- 
ten, will be ready to admit that the ordinary play- 
things of children are not, by any means, as regards 
their usefulness, to be compared with the occupation 
material in the Kinder-Garten. That the former in a 
certain degree, may be made helpful in the develop- 
ment of children, is not denied. Occasional good re- 
sults with them, which, however, usually will be 
found to be owing to the child's own instinct rather 
than to the nature of the toy. Planless playing, with- 
out guidance and supervision, can not prepare a child 
for the earnest sides of life, or even for the enjoyment 
of its own harmless amusements and pleasures. Like 
the plant, which, even in the wilderness, draws from 
the soil its nutrition, so the child's mind draws from 
its surroundings and the means, placed at its com- 



mand, its educational food. But the rose-bush, 
nursed and cared for in the garden by the skillful hor- 
ticulturist, produces flowers far more perfect and 
beautiful than the wild-growing sweet-briar. With- 
out care neither the mind nor the body of the child 
can be e.xpected to prosper. As the latter can not, 
for a healthful development, use all kinds of food 
without careful selection, so the mind for its higher 
cultivation requires a still more careful choice of the 
means for its development. The child's free choice is 
limited only in so far as it is necessary to limit the 
amount of occupation material in order to fit it for 
systematic application. The child will find, instinct- 
ively, all that is requisite for its mental growth, if the 
proper material only be presented, and a guiding mind 
indicate its most appropriate use in accordance with a 
certain la^ci. 

Froebel's, genius has admirably succeeded in invent- 
ing the proper material as well as in pointing out its 
most successful application, to prepare the child for 
all situations in future life, for all branches of occupa- 
tion in the useful pursuits of mankind. When the 
Kinder-Garten was first established by Froebel, it was 
prohibited, and its inventor driven from place to place 
in his fatherland on account of his liberal educational 
principles to be carried out in the Kinder-Garten. 
The keen eye of monarchial government officials 
quickly saw that such institution would not turn out 
passive subjects to tyrannical oppression and the 
rulers " ty the grace of God" tolerated the Kinder- 
Garten only when public opinion declared too strongly 
in its favor to be safely resisted. In pleading the 
cause of the Kinder-Garten on the soil of republican 
America, do I ask too much if I invite all to assist 
in extending to future generations the benefits to be 
derived from an institution so eminently fit to educate 
free ci tizens of a free country .' 



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